Carbureter.



W. J. KEEP.

GARBU'RETER.

APPLICATION FILED srzr'r. so, 1901.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

2 SHBETB-BHEET 1.

INVEN TOR 2 fa /MM Aflorneys- I W. J. KEEP.

GABBURETER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1907.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVE

NTOR

A flumeys.

WITNESSES ATENT error.

WILLIAM J. KEEP, OF'DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CARIBURETER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

Application filed September 30, 1907. Serial No. 395,136.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. KEEP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of ayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Carbureters, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to carbureters.

It has for its object an improved carbureter for the production of gas for illuminating and heating purposes for household and domestic use.

In the drawings :Figure 1, is a sectional elevation. Fig. 2, is a plan view. Fig. 3, is an end elevation. Fig. 4, is a perspective of a pan employed to hold the vaporizing blocks. ig. 5, is a perspective of a pan sup port. Fig. 6, is a cross section of a pile of material used for exposing the hydrocarbon to air currents.

The carburetor consist-s of a casing l of any suitable form, but preferably rectangular in horizontal section. At the bottom of the casing is a chamber 2, which is generally empty, but which may at times be filled with the hydrocarbon fluid in case of the accidental introduction of too much of such fluid into the carburetor. An air inlet pipe 3 enters this chamber at some distance above the bottom thereof, and air is forced into the chamber through the air inlet pipe by any suitable air forcing pump, such as the pump a indicated in Fig. 3. The top of the generator is provided with a chamber 5, which serves as a tank for gas, and from which the gas supply pipe 6 passes to the point of use. In the chamber 5 is located the end of an inlet pipe 7, through which the hydrocarbon enters the generator. The end of the pipe 7 empties into a receptacle 8, which forms a seal to the lower end of the hydrocarbon inlet pipe and serves as an automatic fountain to admit the hydrocarbon into the 'carbureter only so fast as it shall be used. WVithin the receptacle 8 is located a fluid elevator 9, driven from suitable external sources of power, as for example, it may be connected up with the air pump 4. The fluid elevator raises the fluid to conductor 18; the fluid hydrocarbon is conducted into the first or highest absorbent containing chamber 19.-

The fluid elevator raises and delivers into the conduit a quantity of fluid which may be regulated by changing the quantity of fluid that is contained in the receptacle 8; the quantity of fluid in receptacle 8 is determined by the depth that the mouth of the inlet conduit 7 dips into the receptacle; this is regulated by swinging the dipping end of the pipe on the horizontal part 71 as an axis; the amount delivered to the conduit 18 de pends on the depth of the fluid in the receptacle and the depth to which the hollow arm 91 dip into the fluid in the receptacle.

The main or body part of the carburetor is filled with blocks of tubular straw board similar to the straw board commonly and extensively used for packing purposes, each sheet of which consists of three sheets of comparatively thick paper, the middle sheet of the three being corrugated and pasted along its corrugations to the two outer sheets of the three, making a compound sheet in which there are a great number of half round tubular openings running through the sheet from end to end thereof. This packing board is generally made from light fibrous paper or straw board which very rapidly absorbs and becomes filled with fluid and especially easily filled with hydrocarbon fluid, and it is one which also furnishes a very large amount of evaporating surface from which the vapor of the fluid may escape and be carried away by air currents passing through the tubes. A nu1nher of these compound sheets of packing board are made into a block or stack, the block being in thickness about equal to that which will be saturated by capillary attraction if the block or stack of sheets lies on its side with the undermost in a pan containing the hydrocarbon. I have found that this peculiar character of straw board will become saturated to a depth of about two to two and one-half inches when it is so placed, and the block of cardboard should not exceed two and one-half inches, but for better results should be somewhat less, and I place from six to eight or ten of the packing board sheets in a block; these rest in very shallow pans a, the depth of the rim of each pan being only about equal to the thickness of a single sheet of packing board, so that not i iore than one of the sheets of each stack of packing board will be submerged in the hydrocarbon fluid. The pans with their contents, each pan containing a block of cardboard, are arranged one above another in the carbureter, withthe blocks of cardboard placed directly over one another and with alternate pans projecting to the right and to the left beyond the ends of the packing board. Each pan should rest directly on the block of packing board below it, leaving no room between itself and the packing board for the passage of air. Vertical passages 10 and 11, at each end of the cardboard blocks are divided by the pans which.

act as bafiie plates and compel the air driven into the carbureter on the underside to pass upward in a course that extends across the carbureter causing it to pass through the tubular openings in the packing board, and for this purpose the packing board is arranged on pans with the mouths of the tubes opening into the chambers 10 and 11. In order to make a perfect seal at the space where the pans a and b and 0 cross the passage 10, and where the pans cl, 6 and f, cross the passage 11, sealing aprons 12, (shown in Fig. 5), are used to support the pan 6 above the pan 0, and the pan a above the pan 6, and at the opposite end similar aprons are used to support the pan 6 above the pan f, and the pan d above the pan 0. This sealing apron is a piece of sheet metal bent to form three sides of a rectangle with ribs 12 to stiffen the walls, and made with a slight incline so that the bottom edge 12 is slightly shorter than the upper edge 12, so that the bottom of the apron will engage easily within the rim of the pan, and the rim of the pan will engage easily within the apron at the upper side. As the various blocks and pans supporting them are put in place, cracks or openings at the ends or sides between the apron and the ends of the casing of the carbureter and between the blocks of packing board and the sides of the casing are packed with any suitable packing, as a mass of pulp made from the packing board, or pulp made from paper or any suitable packing which will harden slightly and form a practically impassable barrier for air and vapor, thus each pan suitably packed becomes a baffle plate which compels the mass of the air to travel the entire length of the tubes which furnish the vaporizing surface.

In operation, the tank T containing fluid hydrocarbon is connected with the receptacle 8 and the fluid runs automatically from the tank T to the receptacle as fast as the consumption of the fuel takes it out of the receptacle; the fuel is lifted from the receptacle and carried to the uppermost chamber 19 and drops upon the pan d. No liquid can run from the pan (Z into the pan a until the pan cl becomes filled, and the uppermost block of absorbent material becomes fully saturated very soon after the liquid hydrocarbon begins to flow into the pan cl. As soon as the liquid begins to flow from the pan cl, into the pan a, the second block of absorbent material begins to become saturated, and so on until all of the absorb ent material in the carbureter has become saturated and then or at any timeprevious to the complete saturation, air is driven by the fan or air pump t, into the chamber 2, whence it rises through the diaphragm 21 at the opening 22 and passes through the lower block of absorbent to the chamber 11 under the pan f, it then passes through another block of absorbent to the chamber 10 under the pan 6, thence back to the chamber 11 under the pan 6, and so on traveling back and forth until it finally escapes from the chamber 19 into the supply pipe, and thence to the supply pipe 6.

The construction prevents the accumulation of a mass of fluid at any place in the carbureter except in the supply pump, and in the chamber 2, at the bottom of the car bureter; at no other place can any great quantity of fluid be gathered together in a liquid form, and the structure is one which may be termed a dry carbureter. Liquid will not accumulate in the chamber 2, except by some accidental disarrangement of the adjustment by which the liquid will flow into the evaporating part of the carbureter faster than the gas is taken away; should this be the case, the chamber 2 is easily emptied through the drip cock 32. Of course with some hydrocarbon there is always a residuum which is not readily vaporizable and this residuum gradually accumulates in the chamber 2, whence it may be drawn off.

The cover 33, is removable from the lower part of the case in order that the vaporizing surfaces may be renewed from time to time 7 as may be necessary. With all carbureters there is a gradual accumulation of residuum that does not readily vaporize at the low temperatures employed, and inthe course of time this residuum which at first is dissolved in the lighter fluid, accumulates in the vaporizing material and so clogs up the pores of that material that it no longer acts effectually by capillary action, and when this occurs, the packing is taken out and destroyed and new packing substituted for it. v

The construction enables this to be done very easily, Very rapidly and very cheaply.

lVhat I claim is 1. In combinatlon with an incloslng cas mg, means for introducing air into the interior thereof, a plurality of removable trays with their corrugations lying lengthwise of the possible path of travel of air, means for saturating the blocks with a fluid, and means for withdrawing air from the casing after it has become mingled with the vapor arising from the admitted fluid, snbstantially as described.

2. In a carbureter, the combination of an inclosing casing, a plurality of shallow pans, means for supporting said pans in substantially parallel position within the casing, and for sealing the line of union between one end of each pan and the adjacent portion of the casing, whereby the only path of travel through the casing is made a sinuous one, sheets of corrugated material supported by said pans in position to leave air passages therebetween extending lengthwise thereof, means for causing the saturation of said corrngated material, means for introducing atmospheric air at one end of said casing, and means for withdrawing the same from the other end after it has become mixed with the vapor arising from the saturating fluid, substantially as described.

3. In a carbureter, in combination with a closed casing having an air-inlet aperture at the bottom and an escape pipe leading from the top, a plurality of shallow pans adapted to be supported in a horizontal position therewithin, said pans being shorter than the horizontal length of the casing, sealing aprons located on the inner face of the easing adapted to support the pans in alternating position therein with respect to the contact of their ends against the end walls of the casing and to seal their lines of union at such points against the passage of an air current, sheets of corrugated absorbent material supported by said pans and filling the spaces therebetween, the air passages formed by the corrugations extending lengthwise of the pans, and means for directing a flow of oil upon said pans and sheets, substan tially as described.

In a c-arbureter, in combination with blocks of corrugated material, shallow pans supporting the same spaced from one another thereby, the corrugations running lengthwise thereof, means for spacing the ends of the pans from one another whereby the only possible path of travel from one to another of the pans and thereby of the blocks is made a sinuous one and inclosing means into which an air current may be directed and together with the above named members thereby guided from one end to the other, means for controlling the escape or" air therefrom, and means for regulatably directing a flow of oil upon the top one of said corrugated blocks and upon its supporting pan, substantially as described.

5. In a carbureter, in combination with a casing, a plurality of shallow pans, means for supporting the same in horizontal position therein and alternatinglv as regards the engagement of their ends against the end walls of the casing, sheets of corrugated paper supported by said pans and filling the space between the same, the corrugations extending lengthside of the pan, means for directing a flow of fluid hydrocarbon upon the uppermost of said pans, the fluid being adapted to fall therefrom upon the others in succession, and means for introducing a supply of pure air thereinto at the bottom of the casing and for withdrawing the same from the top of the casing after it has be come impregnated with hydrocarbon vapor, substantially as described.

(5. In a carburetor, in combination with an external casing, blocks of corrugated packing paper located therewitliin, shallow pans interposed between said blocks, said pans being arranged alternatingly with respect to the contact of their end portions against the end walls of the casing, sealing aprons whereby the pans and blocks are supported in desired position with respect to the easing and the line of union of one end of each with the wall of the casing is sealed against the passage of an air current, and whereby the only path of travel therethrough is rendered sinuous, means for directing a flow of hydrocarbon upon the uppermost of said blocks and pans, whence it may flow from one to the other in succession, means for introducing a supply of atmospheric air into the bottom of the casing, and means for withdrawing the air from the top portion of the casing after it has become saturated with hydrocarbon, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

IVILLIAM J KEEP.

IVitnesses MAY E. Ko'rr, ELLIOTT J. STODDARD. 

